(Blibli Indonesia Open 2018) Assessing Indonesian Players’ Chance in All Events

Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. (PIC: PBSI)
Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. (PIC: PBSI)
Indonesia Open ‐ Created by AH | IMN

Indonesia is organizing yet another elite Badminton tournament, this time Indonesia will be organizing Blibli Indonesia Open 2018. From this year on, Indonesia Open is entitled to organize the elite HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament. There are only two other tournaments that are entitled for this elite level, the other being All England and China Open.

Indonesia Open has been consistently nominated as the world’s best Badminton tournament by Badminton World Federation (BWF). Not only that the tournament pleases Indonesian badminton fans with world-class badminton matches, but Indonesia Open also provide a new and educational badminton experience.

Last year, BCA Indonesia Open was held in Plenary Hall, Jakarta Convention Centre in Jakarta while the routine venue, Istora Senayan was being improved to held Asian Games 2018. This Year, Indonesia Open is back to Istora, the venue with the ever amazing atmosphere, venue that is not only loved by the local athletes but also world’s elite players’ favorite venue.

Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 rewards the winners to a fantastic prize money worth of USD 1.250.000. The prize is the highest prize rewarded to winners of all HSBC BWF world tour tournaments 2018. In comparison, All England and China Open 2018 reward the winners with prize money of USD 1.000.000.

Each winner from men’s singles & women’s singles will be rewarded USD 87.500, while each runner-ups will be rewarded USD 42.500. Furthermore, all mixed doubles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles winners will receive USD 92.500 for each pair, while the runner-ups will receive USD 43.750 for each pair.

Furthermore, starting from this year all HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 and Super 750 tournaments will not include qualifying rounds. This entails that there is no shortcut to be the best of the world. Being entitled as an HSBC BWF World Tour super 1000 tournament implies that all world’s top 10 players are compulsory to participate on Blibli Indonesia Open 2018. Therefore, Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 will be the ultimate tournament for the best players to show their utmost performance.

Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 will also be the ultimate challenge for Asian’s best player to test themselves before heading to Asian Games 2018. This tournament will be held two months prior to the start of Asian Games and both tournaments will use the same venue, Istora Senayan. Each athlete’s performance in Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 will be thoroughly examined and observed closely by those participating in Asian Games 2018.

There are a couple distinguished names that are confirmed to participate in Blibli Indonesia Open 2018 namely, Viktor Axelsen (Denmark), Kento Momota (Japan), Chen Long (China), Lin Dan (China), Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Tai Tzu Ying (Taiwan), Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand), Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark), Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (China), Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (China), and many more.

Last year, Indonesia claimed its only title of the tournament from the mixed double pair Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir. On the final match, Tontowi/Liliyana beat Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen, who sat at the world’s no. 1 rank when last year’s tournament was being held.

On this year’s occasion, Indonesia is hoping to claim more title through World’s no. 1 men’s doubles pair, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. Last Year, Kevin had a severe injury that restrain the pair to play their best games, thus they suffered a loss on the first round from the Danish Pair Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup.

This year Kevin/Marcus admitted that they are ready to be the agent of glory for Indonesia. It has been five years since Indonesia last won an Indonesia Open men’s doubles title. Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan were the last Indonesian pair to won the title back in 2013, since then no other Indonesian Men’s doubles players have managed to win it again. Last year, China’s pair Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen was the champion for the particular event.

On last year’s occasion, China managed to claim two titles. Other than Li/Liu, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan who were playing in Women’s Doubles event managed to tackle all the hurdles and rewarded as the champion in 2017. In addition to that, the Men’s singles and Women’s singles events were won by Kidambi Srikanth (India) and Sayaka Sato (Japan), respectively.

As a host, Indonesia sends out its best players for Blibli Indonesia Open 2018. Other than Tontowi/Liliyana and Kevin/Marcus, on Women’s Doubles, the Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu pair has the chance to take something from Istora Senayan this year. On the latest Daihatsu Indonesia Masters 2018, Greysia/Apriyani failed to grab the title in Istora after they were beaten by Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (Japan) on the last match of the tournament.

The two Indonesian Men’s singles, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie are also ready to be the key athletes on the event. Anthony proved himself that he could be the man to trust after winning a BWF World Tour Super 500 level tournament, Daihatsu Indonesia Masters. This tournament is his chance to show his class by playing in a higher level and a more competitive environment.

Indonesian women’s singles team is also walking into the tournament without making possible surprises. Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, the gold medalist for World Junior Championships 2017, is in a good form. Thus, Gregoria is hoped to continue to play on her recent form.